Back to School: Sturdy and Smart Shoes by Dobell

Review by Tracey

With the children now aged nearly 11 and 9 you’d have thought I’d have mastered the ‘back to school’ shopping spree by now. In some ways, I have. I know that my daughter needs some of her uniform from John Lewis. My son wears trousers from Next. Most of their uniform is ordered direct as it is school branded. But the task I hate the most is the shoes. It doesn’t seem to matter how much I research, nor how much I pay, I can guarantee that by Christmas they’ll be looking too scruffy to ignore.

My daughter’s feet are an adult size 8. We live in fear that they’ll carry on growing, because her options are already limited (and she’s still only 10!) She wears black ‘school shoes’ from the women’s office range of Clarks. The problem with her feet isn’t so much that she wears shoes out really quickly, but that her shoe size has been changing 1-2 sizes every year.

My son is the awkward one. He is due a growth spurt, so I don’t want to spend an absolute fortune on school shoes because he might outgrow them in a matter of weeks. Yet at the same time I don’t want to buy him cheap shoes that fall apart by the start of week 2.

Toby wears size 4 shoes. He can do laces up, but he’s lazy and he wants shoes with a Velcro strap. When we go shoe shopping he notices the ‘branded’ pairs … we are talking £60, £70 or more. I can’t justify that for school shoes that could be outgrown in weeks. This term we have compromised with black boat shoes from Dobell. With an RRP of £29.99, these are cheaper than many high street stores yet look and feel superior in quality. They are quite chunky, with thick soles and look really well made. They fit Toby perfectly and he says they are really comfortable to wear.

Dobell is a brand I knew little of until recently. They are a UK company that specialise in formal wear for men and boys. I honestly do like the look of these boat shoes, and am optimistic that they’ll handle the heavy duty use that Toby will subject them to. Time will tell. Fingers crossed!